Waterford 6-18 Antrim 0-15:ANTRIM WON the toss at Walsh Park on Saturday, elected to play with the strong wind and certainly showed no hangover from their heavy defeat to Galway in the opening exchanges as they really laid into Waterford.
They led the home side 0-5 to 1-1 after 12 minutes but that was as good as it was going to get for the Ulster side as Waterford roared into the game and looked as if they could get goals at will.
The outstanding Eoin Kelly got Waterford's first goal in the sixth minute after great work by Eoin McGrath and he played a major part in further goals by John Mullane 12 minutes later and and Eoin Kelly in the 32nd minute of play.
In between, Mullane, who looked very sharp again, got his second and Waterford's third goal after big centre forward Gary Hurney won a short Antrim puck-out.
The biggest cheer of the first half came when former All Star Paul Flynn, who has been out of hurling for nearly a year, came on as a blood substitute for Eoin Kelly and managed to pop over a trademark point during the three minutes he was on the field.
Waterford went in at the break 4-6 to 0-10 in front and it was no more than they deserved as they were winning most of the exchanges around the park.
The only negative from the home side's point of view was some very wayward free-taking by both Dave Bennett and Kelly, who managed five wides from placed balls in that opening half and that malaise continued, although to a lesser extent, in the second half.
The second half was no contest as Waterford tacked on a couple of points within a minute of the restart.
And despite points from Paul Shiels and Karl Stewart, the home side raced into a 4-14 to 0-12 lead before Stephen Molumphy brilliantly finished a delightful Waterford move to the Antrim net in the 50th minute.
Gary Hurney added his side's sixth goal 10 minutes later as many of the large home attendance headed for the exit gates.
Waterford, in their first outing under the management of the former Clare goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald, will learn little from this game as Antrim were just not up to scratch.
Fitzgerald said afterwards: "The other counties won't be too worried about what they saw but we know we have plenty of work to do.
"Personally it's nice to get the first game under the belt and hit the ground running. You would be a little nervous but you just go out and get stuck into it."
WATERFORD: C Hennessy; E Murphy, K McGrath, D Prendergast; S O'Sullivan, T Browne, J Kennedy; M Walsh, D Bennett (0-1, free); D Shanahan (0-4), G Hurney (1-0), S Molumphy (1-0); E McGrath (0-5), E Kelly (2-3, 0-2 from frees), J Mullane (2-2). Subs: J Nagle (0-2) for Bennett (55 mins); P Flynn (0-1) for G Hurney (58); R Foley for M Walsh, T Feeney for D Prendergast (both 64).
ANTRIM: R McGarry; A Griffin, C Donnelly, J McKeague; C Herron (0-1), K McKeegan, J Campbell (0-1); PJ O'Connell (0-2), E McCloskey; M Herron, K Stewart (0-3, two frees), B Quinn (0-1); S McNaughton (0-1), R Richmond, P Shiels (0-6, four frees).
Referee: M Haverty (Galway).
